ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Liya Merin Stanly and Mridul Umesh
Department of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University), Hosur Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Article Number: 9572 | © The Author(s). 2024
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2024;18(3):2085-2094. https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.18.3.58
Received: 21 May 2024 | Accepted: 26 July 2024 | Published online: 31 August 2024
Issue online: September 2024
Abstract

The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of chicken feather hydrolysate for promoting the growth of Spinacia oleracea L., a commonly consumed leafy green vegetable. An earlier isolated and identified keratinolytic bacterial species Bacillus tropicus was utilized for the preparation of chicken feather hydrolysate through submerged fermentation. Minimal media which was supplemented with chicken feather was used for the preparation of hydrolysate. The bacterial strain degraded chicken feather within 4 days of incubation after which the feather hydrolysate was collected and tested to check plant growth promoting activity through the seed germination trials and greenhouse study. Upon characterization of feather hydrolysate, it was found that the hydrolysate was a cocktail of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (NPK) as well as other micro elements needed for plant growth. Four different concentrations of feather hydrolysate were employed for both the seed germination and greenhouse study which ranged from 25% (v/v), 30% (v/v), 35% (v/v) and 40% (v/v) including a control group (CN) which was not supplemented with feather hydrolysate. The hydrolysate supplementation brought about plant growth in all the four test concentrations with 35% (v/v) giving the highest result of 14 cm and 27.6 mg/g for tested parameters like plumule length and total chlorophyll content, respectively. The same concentration supported maximum seed germination and highest radicle extension for the germination studies as well. This study investigates the efficacy of chicken feather hydrolysate in promoting spinach growth, elucidating its potential as a fertilizer.

Keywords

Chicken feather, Keratin, Biofertilizer, Spinach, Seed germination, Bacillus sp.

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© The Author(s) 2024. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.